RAFAL BLECHACZ PIANO RECITAL / Review

RAFAL BLECHACZ Piano Recital

Esplanade Concert Hall

Thursday (5 February 2026)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 7 February 2026 with the title "Polish pianist Rafal Blechacz brings passion and rapture to Singapore debut".

Every first prizewinner of the prestigious International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition since 2000 has performed in Singapore with the exception of Polish pianist Rafal Blechacz. That anomaly was righted with the Singapore debut of the 2005 “Chopin Champion”, the informal title bestowed on Blechacz by Finger Waltz Music Productions, which presented his solo recital.

Opening with Ludwig van Beethoven’s popular Piano Sonata No.14 in C sharp minor (Op.27 No.2), also known as the “Moonlight Sonata”, he conjured a dreamy atmosphere for its famous first movement. Once poetically described as “the moon viewed over Lake Lucerne”, his deft use of the sustaining pedal accounted for its nocturnal and echo-ey feel, without overdoing it.

Then the gloves came off for the folk-like dance of the second movement, and the tempest-tossed finale which rumbled unapologetically to a tumultuous close. Beethoven had left the constraints of the Classical era well behind to fearlessly enter the Romantic era, which he shared with the Viennese Franz Schubert.

For Schubert’s Four Impromptus Op.90 (D.899), the earlier of two sets, Blechacz sensitively brought out revealed both Classical restraint and Romantic ardour. Very clean lines tinged with melancholy defined the first and longest Impromptu (in C minor) while a dextrous right hand surmounted the vertiginous etude-like second E flat major piece.

Poetry came to the fore in the G flat major Impromptu, one possessed with a seamless singing tone and possibly Schubert’s most beloved piano melody, Finally, feather-light filigree and more lyricism defined the fourth and final A flat major piece. One could only take issue with the programme booklet which had all the keys wrong, but not the pianist.

A second half of Chopin’s music was what the well-filled house was waiting for, and Blechacz did not disappoint. Dispelling the notion that the Polish pianist-composer’s music was sickly or effete. one could feel the temperature rise in the Barcarolle in F sharp major (Op.60) as the gondolier’s love song built up to a rapturous climax. Similarly, in the Third Ballade in A flat major (Op.47), passion was never sacrificed for the sake of mere prettiness.

In the Three Mazurkas (Op.50), Blechacz’s instinctive feel for three-quarter time dance rhythms, with well-placed accents dotting the landscape stood him out as quintessentially Polish. In these seemingly simple folk-like pieces, the true spirit of his homeland came through most vividly.

The recital proper was completed with the Third Scherzo in C sharp minor (Op.39), fraught with tricky octave passages and more cascading filigree. These contrasting devices are what distinguished Chopin’s Scherzi (Italian term for joke), which were anything but slapstick or comedic. Blechacz had completely grasped the implicit and subtle humour.

Given the ovation, he could not have left without playing an encore or two. Thus he obliged with Chopin’s Waltz in C sharp minor (Op.64 No.2), pure elegance personified, and the playful Scherzo from Beethoven’s early Sonata in A major (Op.2 No.2). Rising abruptly from the keyboard, Blechacz drew even more cheers. The season for piano recitals has just begun.

Photography by Mu Bai & PianoManiac. 

The review on www.straitstimes.com:

Polish pianist Rafal Blechacz brings passion and rapture to S’pore debut | The Straits Times

A PIANO RECITAL NOT TO MISS: RAFAL BLECHACZ ON 5 FEBRUARY @ ESPLANADE CONCERT HALL

Here is a piano recital not to be missed. Polish pianist Rafał Blechacz makes his Singapore debut on Thursday 5 February 2026 at Esplanade Concert Hall. 1st prizewinner of the 2005 Chopin International Piano Competition, Rafał Blechacz also won all the special prizes including best performances of piano concerto, Polonaise and Mazurka. Chopin's music figures large in his piano recital here, which also includes other favourites of the piano repertoire.

His recital programme as follows:

Beethoven Piano Sonata No.14 

  in C sharp minor (Op.27 No.2) "Moonlight"

Schubert Four Impromptus, Op.90 (D.899)

Chopin Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op.60

Chopin Ballade No.3 in A flat major, Op.47

Chopin Three Mazurkas, Op.50

Chopin Scherzo No.3 in C sharp major, Op.39

Thursday 5 February 2026

Esplanade Concert Hall at 7.30 pm

Get your tickets here:

Finger Waltz Piano Nights 2026: Piano Recital by Rafał Blechacz Chopin Champion - Singapore Debut

Watch this video:

Chopin Barcarolle, Op.60

Chopin Piano Concerto No.1

Rafał Blechacz's piano recital is presented by

Finger Waltz Music Productions

VITALY PISARENKO Piano Recital / Review

 

VITALY PISARENKO Piano Recital

Victoria Concert Hall

Friday (16 January 2026)

I must have been living in a parallel universe to learnt that this is London-based Ukrainian-Russian pianist Vitaly Pisarenko’s third recital in Singapore. How did I miss his first two, held in 2022 and 2023? Perhaps it was the haze of Covid-19 lifting, but am I grateful to have finally caught the 1st prizewinner of the 2008 Utrecht Liszt International Piano Competition, who also got the 3rd prize at the Leeds in 2015. I was even in Leeds that year, caught the eventual winner Anna Tsybuleva but had missed Vitaly completely.

Presented by Finger Waltz Music Productions, Pisarenko replicated the tandem of Schubert and Liszt of his 2022 recital. Opening with Schubert’s Four Impromptus (D.935 or Op.142), he showed the breadth and depth of his musicality. A singing tone was established from the first number in F minor, which opens with the exact same chordal notes as Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto, and there was never a moment this extended essay felt like an exercise. The poetry continued in the “easier” A flat major Impromptu. Many students play this for their ABRSM exams, but how many actually capture its essence?

Photo: Finger Waltz

The variations of the B flat major piece were handled so musically that one forgot how technically difficult this actually is. The minor key variation was sonorous and poignant, and the prestidigitation that followed would have influenced the young Chopin and Schumann. The Hungarian-flavoured F minor final Impromptu, aided and abetted by Pisarenko’s mastery of scales closed the set on a high. One just wished the audience had not applauded between every single impromptu as this had disrupted the flow of the music.

Photo: Finger Waltz

The recital’s second half showed exactly why Pisarenko was awarded the coveted Liszt prize. Hyphenated Liszt was represented here by two kinds of transcriptions – one a literal note-for-note arrangement (more a conflation actually) and the other a free fantasy on operatic themes, sometimes called a paraphrase.

The orchestra’s glorious sonorities were captured in Liszt’s direct transcription of Wagner’s Tannhauser Overture. “Too many notes,” one might argue but that was exactly Liszt’s remit and Pisarenko’s thunderous account captured all of its glory. Beginning quietly with the Pilgrim’s Chorus, this soon built in volume and intensity, and then escalated to the freewheeling and carnal realms of Venusberg, before returning to reality with the biggest of bangs. 

Photo: Finger Waltz

This is hardly ever heard in Singapore (although one fondly remembers Kenneth Hamilton’s feverish account in 2007), simply because its too darned difficult to pull off. The only other time I had that “lump in the throat” was in Leeds, by another prizewinner Sung-Hoon Kim in 2006.

How poetic it was for Liszt to title his free fantasies or paraphrases on operatic themes as reminiscences, a recalling of popular melodies and moments from popular or obscure operas. Perhaps The best known is his totally vulgar Reminiscences de Don Juan (after Mozart), also called the Don Juan Fantasy. Reminiscences de Norma after Bellini’s bel canto opera is a far better piece, more subtle but no less virtuosic, revealing a more sophisticated kind of musician. 

Photo: Finger Waltz

Pisarenko is that kind of artist, for whom no technical challenge, however thorny or fiendish, ever fazes. More importantly, his art is not about banging out the notes but bringing out the music, and he did so without fear or apology. By the way, the programme notes mentions the aria Casta Diva, but nowhere in this reminiscence does this appear.

Photo: Finger Waltz

Pisarenko’s sole encore married both halves of the recital in a most poetic way possible, with the Schubert-Liszt Standchen (Serenade) from Schwanengesang. So beautiful, so refined and so sublime. One cannot wait for Pisarenko’s fourth recital in Singapore.

A PIANO RECITAL NOT TO MISS: VITALY PISARENKO on 16 January @ Victoria Concert Hall

Here is another piano recital not to be missed. Ukrainian-Russian pianist VITALY PISARENKO was a 1st Prize Winner of the 8th Franz Liszt International Piano Competition in Utrecht, Netherlands, besides getting 3rd prize at the 2015 Leeds International Piano Competition. He is presently teaching at the London's Royal College of Music.

Presented by Finger Waltz Music Productions, Pisarenko performs favourite piano works by Franz Schubert and virtuoso transcriptions of Franz Liszt.

Programme:

SCHUBERT Four Impromptus, Op.142 (D.935)

WAGNER-LISZT Tannhauser Overture

LISZT Reminiscences de Norma

Friday 16 January 2025

Victoria Concert Hall, 7.30 pm

Get your tickets here:

Finger Waltz Piano Nights 2026: Piano Recital by Vitaly Pisarenko Return to Singapore - Schubert & Liszt

Vitaly Pisarenko 

in Liszt's Dante Sonata

VITALY PISARENKO is presented by

Finger Waltz Music Productions

PRELUDE TO GREATNESS: A PIANO PRODIGY'S SINGAPORE DEBUT / ELISEY MYSIN Piano Recital / Review

 

PRELUDE TO GREATNESS: 

A PIANO PRODIGY’S SINGAPORE DEBUT 

ELISEY MYSIN Piano Recital 

Victoria Concert Hall 

Sunday (23 February 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 25 February 2025 with the title "Russian teen piano prodigy makes Singapore debut".

Piano prodigies have existed as long as piano recitals, from the exploited and abused Josef Hofmann and Ruth Slenczynska of ages past, the more recent wonders of Evgeny Kissin and Lang Lang to Singapore’s own Mikkel Meyer Lee and Toby Tan. Following Alexander Malofeev’s much-hailed Singapore debut in 2019 came yet another Russian phenom, the 15-year-old Elisey Mysin. 

Photo: Finger Waltz Music

Already known as a YouTube sensation, his recital opened with early works from two great masters. Ludwig van Beethoven’s first Sonata in F minor (Op.2 No.1) could have been a display of youthful impetuosity, but Mysin took a far more measured approach. 

Lightness and crispness of articulation ruled, as did a Mozartean tenderness of feeling in the slow movement which touched the heart. While the third movement’s Minuet hid a veiled threat, it was the furious finale where passions were finally let loose. So far, so good. 

The many short sections that make up Robert Schumann’s Papillons (Op.2) can sound disjointed and incoherent but Mysin was able to bring out their inner beauty. Stringing them together like pearls in a necklace, the final outcome was greater than the sum of the individual parts. 

Widely contrasting music from Franz Liszt’s Annees de Pelerinage (Years of Pilgrimage) cycle concluded the first half. His control of keyboard tone was admirable in The Bells of Geneva (from the Swiss album), where echoes of gentle pealing were eventually built up to an epic climax. 

This was in many ways preferable to the predictable barnstorming that inevitably takes place in the Tarantella from Venezie e Napoli (Venice and Naples), but his enviable technique in repeated notes and filigreed cadenzas imperiously held sway. 

Photo: Finger Waltz Music

The afternoon’s best performance came in a rare reading of Sergei Prokofiev’s Sonata No.5 in C major (Op.38). A far cry from the violence and brutality of his War Sonatas (Nos.6 through 8), the Mozartean clarity in the outer movements was balanced by the central movement’s grotesque sense of wit and irony. His finely honed interpretation scored in all the right spots. 

Photo: Finger Waltz Music

The concert suite from Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker by Russian pianist-conductor Mikhail Pletnev does not exactly duplicate the items from the popular Nutcracker Suite. Mysin’s view paid more attention to the orchestral textures of the pieces, thus being more successful in the slower movements such as the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and Intermezzo. 

Photo: Finger Waltz Music

Infamously fraught with over-the-top acrobatic high jinks, the romping Russian and Chinese Dances had both hits and misses. Mysin had probably been distracted by an errant concertgoer’s handphone which had a ringtone that tried to compete. The gloriously lyrical Andante maestoso brought the recital to a heady close. 

Photo: Finger Waltz Music

The encores of Frederic Chopin’s Mazurka in G minor (Op.24 No.1) and Nocturne in E major (Op.62 No.2) exhibited luscious tone and subtle rubato to equal degree. These aptly demonstrated that for him, musical qualities always trumped technical ones.

A PIANO RECITAL NOT TO MISS: ELISEY MYSIN on 23 February 2025

Here is a piano recital not to be missed. The prodigious 15-year-old Russian pianist and YouTube sensation Elisey Mysin makes his Singapore debut recital on Sunday 23 February 2025. Not since Evgeny Kissin has there been a piano prodigy such as this, and his numerous prizes in international piano competitions attest to his artistry and virtuosity.

His programme as follows:

BEETHOVEN Sonata No.1 in F minor, Op.2 No.1

SCHUMANN Papillons, Op.2

LISZT The Bells of Geneva 

   from Years of Pilgrimage (Switzerland)

LISZT Venezia et Napoli 

   from Years of Pilgrimage

PROKOFIEV Sonata No.5 in C major, Op.38

TCHAIKOVSKY-PLETNEV 

   Nutcracker Concert Suite

Sunday, 23 February 2025

Victoria Concert Hall, 4.30 pm

Tickets available at SISTIC:

https://www.sistic.com.sg/events/elisey0225

Watch this video and marvel:

Another video to enjoy:

Elisey Mysin is presented by

Finger Waltz Music Productions.

LUKAS GENIUSAS Piano Recital / Review

LUKAS GENIUSAS Piano Recital

Victoria Concert Hall

Thursday (19 October 2023)

 

It seemed strange to have had Anna Geniushene and Lukas Geniusas perform within two weeks of each other in Singapore, in separate solo piano recitals presented by two different presenters. The wife-and-husband pairing might have made for a superb two-piano recital. Being unlucky to have missed Geniushene’s solo recital (6 October) due to a conflicting concert, I had to make sure not to forego Geniusas’ recital, having seen attended his performances at Schloss vor Husum (Germany, 2017 & 2018) and Esplanade (2018), the last when he performed Rachmaninov’s Paganini Rhapsody with the SSO under Charles Dutoit.  

 

Lithuanian-Russian pianist Lukas Geniusas, runner-up in the 2010 Chopin and 2015 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competitions, opened his recital with a rarity. Schubert’s Minuet in C sharp minor (D.600) was once thought to be a missing third movement from an uncompleted sonata. It is a quietly charming miniature accompanied by soft left hand octaves, which could have been mistaken for a neo-Baroque dance from hyphenated Handel or Bach. Geniusas’ sensitivity in touch and tone made this a perfect prelude to Schubert’s Four Impromptus (Op.142).

 

From Geniusas, one got nothing less than seamless singing vocal lines and unfailing natural musicality. The first two impromptus breezed through effortlessly, but true tests came in the famous B flat major Theme and Variations (No.3) which could get fussy at times, and the Hungarian-flavoured F minor No.4, which required a fair degree of barnstorming. There were a few slipped notes but these did little to mar the impression of fine musicianship.

 

The second half was devoted to the original version of Rachmaninov’s rarely-heard Sonata No.1 in D minor (Op.28). Its rarity is well-founded, being the far longer, more blustery and thornier of the Russian’s two sonatas. Whoever knew there was even an earlier version? This was the edition premiered by Konstantin Igumnov in 1908, after which over 100 bars were excised to get the version we are now familiar with. Geniusas found the original score in a Moscow archive two years ago and has championed it, having also made a world premiere recording on the Mirare label. The programme booklet, probably written by some Music Elective Programme (MEP) student, made no mention of this nor its Faustian inspiration and narrative which so captivated Rachmaninov. (One certainly misses Lionel Choi’s knowing and erudite programme notes on such occasions.)

 

The small audience (which could not have numbered over 200 people) got to witness a Singapore premiere. And it was truly epic. Any pianist who would even dream of attempting this sonata will be armed with a formidable arsenal of technique and endurance. Geniusas possesses these in abundance and more. This version was distended to some 45 minutes, with the excesses limited to the first and third movements. Only the Gretchen-inspired central slow movement was spared cuts.

 

Following with score in hand, Geniusas hardly missed a note and one marvelled at the effort expended in the extra bars which came at the end of the first movement’s development. One might refer to this as a extended recapitulation. Does it work? Yes, but only in the right hands. Geniusas made the loads of original notes, which do not present new material or themes, sound convincing rather than superfluous.

 

Similarly, the finale had its extras past the midway mark, and Geniusas’ totally emphatic account was just as valid and a wonder to behold. One understands why Igumnov and Rachmaninov chose to excise all these bars (the accusation of being repetitious and note-spinning among the reasons), which is to spare the already beleaguered pianist further knotty knolls to scale. Having heard superb performances by Kun Woo Paik, Albert Tiu (twice!), Vadym Kholodenko and Zlata Chochieva, I am happy to add Geniusas to this hallowed list of great artists.

 

The cheering audience at its blistering and hell-for-leather conclusion proved that Geniusas made his point, and some. His encores of Godowsky’s Alt Wien (from Triakontameron) and Rachmaninov’s transcription of Mussorsgky’s Gopak from Sorochintsy Fair with fair dollops of rubato, were further icing on a more than well-baked cake.

Lukas Geniusas was presented by Finger Waltz Music Productions. 

With memories from Husum,
where Geniusas performed music by
Hindemith, Hahn, Desyatnikov and Arzoumanov.
Photo: Wu Yang